Maya Mailer unpacks the theory of change of an innovative climate change group, which uses artistic, eye-catching stunts outside corporate HQs, narratives of hope and the social status of mothers to talk to parts of the private sector that other climate activists often struggle to reach.
Ahead of London Climate Action Week, Mothers Rise Up organised one of its trademark creative actions outside a global insurance summit in the heart of the City.
In the early hours, we erected an art installation of a life-sized flooded playground protruding from the ‘watery’ pavement outside the skyscraper hosting the conference. The intention was to visualise the insurance sector’s incoherent approach to the climate crisis. With one hand, insurance companies are enabling climate breakdown by underwriting polluting fossil fuel projects. With the other, they are dealing with the fallout of climate breakdown, as home insurance claims for flooding and other weather related damage soar.
The USP of Mothers Rise Up is using creativity to inspire mothers and parents to get involved in climate organising. Through artistic street actions that garner media attention, we point a spotlight on corporate fossil fuel enablers, such as the Lloyd’s of London marketplace, the world’s single biggest source of fossil fuel insurance. And we seek to directly engage with our targets, through personalised gifts and interventions.
The last four years have been busy. We’ve brought a flash mob inspired by a scene from the Mary Poppins movie, a classical music climate dance with stilt walkers representing oil rigs, Mother Earth in Concert and Super Dad to Lloyd’s of London. We dropped a banner at Lords Cricket Ground, and delivered an array of cricket-themed gifts to a top insurance executive – also a dad-of-four and huge cricket enthusiast. We have engaged in ‘Cake-tivism’, showcasing our ‘clean energy cakes’ on The Extra Slice, the spin off show to the Great British Bake Off.
Why have we chosen this somewhat unconventional approach to climate activism?
Our theory of change emerged through instinct, experimentation and collaboration. We formed as a small, scrappy, volunteer group inspired by the youth climate strikes and Extinction Rebellion in late 2018, propelled by the belief that parents too had to step up. Early on, we recognised the importance of protesting in a way that was welcoming, family-friendly and peaceful. Many mothers wanted to do something but felt intimidated or alienated by the more strident forms of climate activism. As our group has evolved, we have become more intentional about how we bring about change and engage our audience.
‘Research points to something that we have felt intuitively: that the messenger is just as important as the message and that we need more trusted and authentic voices talking about the climate crisis. We can all relate to the exhausted but determined mother who, despite all her spinning plates, acts to protect what she loves.’
There are three key ingredients to the Mothers Rise Up method:
- Cultivating hope and eye-catching creativity
- Leaning into the mother-led voice and finding common ground
- Collaboration is all
Cultivating hope and eye-catching creativity
We intentionally and unashamedly aim to cultivate hope, which we have identified as a missing ingredient in climate organising. This may feel counterintuitive as the climate crisis deepens and there is more to be horrified about each day. But we know that relentless bad news leads to resignation, despair, and overwhelm. Our supporters consistently tell us that our joyful, creative, colourful form of “artivism” is what draws them in and sustains them. Climate scientists such as Katherine Hayhoe and researchers have shown that offering hope can lead to climate engagement.
Leaning into our mother-led voice and finding common ground
Our mother’s voice is integral to how we communicate and organise. We resist the more passive, consumerist descriptions of motherhood and instead embrace notions of feminist and mother power. Our early tagline was “Don’t mess with a lioness”. We are conscious that we follow a long tradition of mother-led and women-led grassroots activism, from the Madres de Plaza de Mayo who challenged the Argentinian dictatorship in the 1970s to Moms for Guns Safety in the U.S. to mothers around the world campaigning for clean air, like the inspirational Rosamund Kissi-Debrah.
At the same time, we speak to the chaos, fatigue and joy of motherhood and use this shared experience to connect with our audience. Anxiety/guilt over life-style choices is also a big barrier to entry into climate organising – one that has been exploited by fossil fuel companies, who first developed the concept of a personal carbon footprint. We are working to dismantle the concept of the ‘perfect’ climate activist (actually, yes, you can be a climate activist and occasionally drink coffee from a disposable cup).
Indeed, social science research shows that the ‘Protect What We Love’ frame has universal appeal. A 2023 landmark study by Potential Energy and Yale found that protecting the planet for the next generation was the most powerful motivator for inspiring climate action. Polling 60,000 people across 23 countries the data showed that “Across every country, love for the next generation was the dominant reason for action on climate change”.
Climate outreach research points to something that we have felt intuitively: that the messenger is just as important as the message and that we need more trusted and authentic voices talking about the climate crisis. We can all relate to the exhausted but determined mother who somehow, despite all her spinning plates, acts to protect what she loves.
Similarly, we’ve secured meetings with influential executives in the insurance sector by leaning into shared values around parenting and because they have been intrigued by the creativity of our actions. One employee told me: “We don’t normally meet with climate groups but we met with you because you humanised us.” No naivety here: access to decision-makers does not equal influence. So far Lloyd’s insurers haven’t introduced the robust fossil fuel exclusion policies that we’ve been asking for. But dialogue with and an understanding of those you seek to influence is part of the equation for change.
Collaboration is all
For a small, grassroots group like Mothers Rise Up – the core team is five women juggling other jobs and caring commitments – collaboration with networks such as Insure Our Future is mission critical. We have brought an emotive voice to more policy-oriented coalitions that in turn have provided us with much valued expertise, campaign infrastructure and funding (funding for grassroots movements = another blog!). I’ve seen this pattern across the global network that I co-direct, Our Kids’ Climate: parent-groups are turbo-charging existing and new campaigns through their emotive power, community rootedness and creativity.
‘Just keep going’
As hundreds of people stood in line to enter the insurance summit, we had a captive audience for our flooded playground scene. We had scores of conversations and the reactions ranged from hostile (a handful), to indifferent and defensive, to curious, engaged and grateful. One woman came up to our prop-maker, who had spent days single-handedly cutting and repainting abandoned play equipment, firmly shook her hand and said “thank you” before entering the colossal skyscraper. One insurance insider said: “Just keep going.” So. Yes. Onwards.
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